So I was recently approached by the HellCats paintball team, and they offered to induct me into their Ironworks Paintball Academy program, meant to change rec-ballers to tournament players. Any tips on joining this and all? I have decent gear, sub-par ion as my main gun, and a variable of available money for the sport. This program looks very official and I feel it'd make me a better player, plus I always loved getting into an established, organized organization. Any tips on joining the team and whatnot when I get my field player certificiation?

i dont know what any of that "field player certification" is, but just make sure you have money before committing to a team.
you're going to need money for practices, tournaments, sponsorship deals, etc. it all costs money. If you are tight on money, then honestly, save yourself some stress and missed bills by just playing recball.

theres no reason you can't progress your game by playing rec ball. personally, theres not a ton you can be taught in a few weekends that will instantly make you a better player. so be cautious about putting down a bunch of money for clinics and "training camps".

Unless you have thousands of dollars to drop, don't for the reasons that the poster above stated.

I'm a rec baller but I am a free agent for tourney ball. If you are new I would personally recommend playing rec ball until you are good, progress to playing with teams at open team practices, go to paintball clinics, go be a free agent/pick up player, then commit to a team when you have a lot of money.

Most likely they assumed you're new because you posted in the "Newbie Forum - Paintball 101" forum. Unless you have a few thousand to drop on paintball a year, a good suggestion would be to keep playing rec-ball . I became pretty good at paintball by watching Mike's paintball videos TechPB YoutubeScroll through the videos, pick and choose ones you want to watch. Very informative videos. I've watched probably all of them!

Another thing.. If that field player certification thing is something you get from the program. Most teams probably won't recognize it as anything special unless this program is some huge thing in your area. Just my $0.02 on that

But personally I wouldn't do any tourneys unless you feel like you can rape at d4

In other words, "sandbag"?Much like the teams you're likely to get raped by regardless?

Personally, I don't much care for the mainstream tournament scene as it seems to be centered around money rather than sportsmanship (It's a wonder why we're not taken seriously as a sport ). I've been a rec-baller for years now, despite being approached by quite a few teams, and have performed just fine and have always had fun with it.I'll piggy-back on the other guys and say that, unless you have disposable income, I wouldn't worry about tournaments.

This camp however, is different. So long as it's affordable and has no unreasonable obligations (e.g. having to be their walking advertisement to attend), I see no harm in attending. I've no idea what this certification you're talking about is (last I checked, you needed only money and desire to play paintball), but if you feel it will make you better, then go for it.